In the treatment and handling of certain food products it is necessary to disintegrate or reduce in size large chunks or particles of material. Difficulty is experienced in reducing the size of material which is sticky, such as hot cooked cereal grains.
Apparatus in the known art typically have blades or hammers which beat the material against the sides of a container until the material is reduced in size and can pass through openings provided in the container. Other apparatus utilize cutting blades to cut the material so it may pass or be forced through spaced bars.
It is the intent of the present invention to provide a lump breaker apparatus which is effective in reducing the particle size of food products and particularly sticky food products.
It is the further intent of the present invention to provide a lump breaker apparatus which shears the large particles of the material in a manner such that the sheared particles are reintroduced above the breaker bars for repeated disintegration or passage between the breaker bars.